1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for analyzing and displaying usage conditions of information derived to an information distributing system, such as electronic bulletin board systems or mailing lists, in an organization such as an enterprise, and particularly, to the technique which is suitable to analyze and display the usage conditions of the information outside the information distributing system assumed that users voluntarily participate in the system.
2. Background Art
At first, the terminology used in the present invention will be defined referring to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows an organization chart of a human organization A as see from a traversing organization which is not prescribed in an organizational chart. The human organization A, as shown in right side of FIG. 1, has hierarchical architecture and members are included in corresponding organization nodes or terminal organization nodes, respectively.
The structure prescribed in advance such as an information flow chart, a process chart, an organizational chart, a location chart (physical arrangement), and a matrix organizational is referred to as ‘a formal organization structure’ (denoted by reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1). The flow of the information in the above structure is referred to as ‘flow of information on formal organization structure’ (denoted by reference numeral 2 in FIG. 1). In addition, ‘formal organization structure’ may be regarded as an organization expression describing contents of the organization from a specific viewpoint. Typically, the organization expression is one of the information flow chart, the process chart, organization chart, the location chart, or the matrix organization.
In the business organization, the structure, which is not prescribed in advance, such as a community or an organization with voluntary participation is referred to as ‘informal organization’ (denoted by reference numeral 3 in FIG. 1). The flow of the information in the informal organization is referred to as ‘flow of the information in the informal organization’ (denoted by reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1). The flow of the information outside of the informal organization is referred to as ‘flow of the information outside of the informal organization’ (denoted by reference numeral 5 in FIG. 1). The concept of ‘the flow of the information outside of the informal organization’ is used limitedly in the information of ‘the informal organization’.
An information distributing system such as the electronic bulletin board or mailing list corresponds to ‘the informal organization’ under the condition of the voluntary participation. The information distributing system may be anything so long as the boundary is specified at a predetermined point of time. An extent of the information (message or electronic message) may be specified by a header, a title, or a mail account which is included in the information. Also, a group of contributors or a group of contributors in a predetermined period may be understood as an area of the information distribution system.
In recent years, there has been paid attention to the existence and effect of the flow of the information generated from ‘the informal organization’, other than the flow of the information on the formal organization structure prescribed by the organization of the corresponding business enterprise in advanced. Since the communication in the business enterprise is supported by IT (Information Technology), it is possible to understand and objectively analyze the communication from log of electronic messages like E-mails.
However, according to the related art, since the only ‘flow of the information on the informal organization’ is recognized using the feature that ‘the flow of the information on the informal organization’ is accumulated as the log, the activity of the informal organization can be known. An entire image visualizing what result is derived from the flow of the information in the informal organization can not be acquired because anything other than ‘the flow of the information in the informal organization’ is not recorded as the log. There is a technique that simply visualizes the flow of the information on a network diagram of the human or the organization. But, it is difficult to understand overall flow of the information when the network diagram is getting complicated according to an increase of the nodes since the flow of the information is not classified. Further, it is not possible to recognize at a glance what effect is derived by ‘the flow of the information on the informal organization’ since the effect of the flow of the information can not be described.
It is desired to be understood the structure, frequency, and the effect of ‘the flow of the information outside the informal organization’ by classifying ‘the flow of the information outside the informal organization’ such as ‘utilization’, ‘distribution’, and ‘individual communication’ and visualizing the effect according to the result of the classification.
As relationship between the classification and the effect of ‘the flow of the information outside the informal organization’, it is understood, for example, that the ‘utilization’ contributes to increase influence of the information, the ‘distribution’ contributes to increase the range of the information, and the ‘individual communication’ contributes to improve the quality of the information. If ‘the flow of the information outside the informal organization’ is classified and displayed, people can understand which information acquires great majority, and also understand the amount of the effect according to the frequency by the classification.
In recent years, ‘the flow of the information on the formal organization’ previously determined on the business organization can be managed by an information system such as an eCRM (electronic Customer Relationship Management) or an SFA (Sales Force Automation). For example, an organizational chart or the information flowchart is determined in most of the organizations. Accordingly, it is possible to understand whether the information between the organizations or processes (activities) is formally exchanged by supporting by the information system.
On the contrary, research on the communication in the business organization indicates that there exists the flow of the information according to association between persons who are not authorized in advance on the organization ('flow of the information on the informal organization' and ‘the flow of the information outside of the informal organization’) and such flows of the information are indispensable to perform the operation smoothly.
The technique according to the related art specifies and visualizes only the flow of the information on the formal organization but it does not specify the influence of ‘the flow of the information outside of the informal organization’ on the ‘formal organization structure’. Accordingly, it is impossible to reasonably evaluate ‘the informal organization’ in the business organization and manage ‘the informal organization’ as management resources.
Consequently, it is desired to specify and visualize the relation which part (component) of the ‘formal organization’ refers to ‘the informal organization’ through ‘the flow of the information outside of the informal organization’, by matching ‘the flow of the information on the formal organization’ and ‘the flow of the information on the informal organization’. It explains how ‘the information on the informal organization’ influences ‘the formal organization structure’. And it is possible to consider that ‘the information of the informal organization’ should be inserted to the formal organization structure and to determine the function thereof. Accordingly, the informal organization can be treated as the management resource.